Cormac McCarthy Has 8/1 Odds to Win 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature

By Jason Boog on GalleyCat, October 4, 2010

Novelist Cormac McCarthy (author of The Road and Blood Meridian), pic left with Oprah Winfrey, received a huge boost from the betting site Ladbrokes over the weekend. He was given 8/1 odds to win the Nobel Prize in Literature as UK gamblers are hard at work trying to predict a winner of the world’s most prestigious literary prize.

At the same time, Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong’o rocketed up the chart, gaining 6/1 odds as the October 7th announcement nears. Swedish author Tomas Transtromer still has the best chance with 4/1 odds. Japan’s Haruki Murakami and Autstralia’s Les Murray both have 11/1 odds of winning the prize.

Betting Pro has more about the odds from Ladbrokes spokesman David Williams. He explained: “We’ve never seen anything like it. Ngugi was a rank outsider when we first looked at the candidates but we fear we’ve got it horribly wrong. Punters cant get enough of him and we’re dreading him being announced the winner.” (Via Michael Orthofer)